Demons and other supernatural entities

[MilVetPatriot]

FYI....Speaking of the supernatural, demons, and even scarier things in public office....if there are any of you out there that are truly into that type of thing....
There is an awesome radio talk show that comes on at night, 7 days a week. (I'm sure a lot of you have heard of it) Its call Coast To Coast AM with George Noorey.
It is a late night talk show that's 4 hours long.
They hit on a variety of topics from the supernatural, 2012, government conspiracy's, ghost, the meaning of dreams, the end of the world, UFO's, bigfoot and so on.
Here in Louisiana it plays from around 11pm to 3am.
It plays in every state and Canada. To find out exactly what station and time it plays at in your area you can go to there website which is:
www.coasttocoastam.com

At the top, click on where it says RADIO AFFILIATES. There it will let you pick your state and it will tell you exactly what radio station it comes on in your local area. Check it out. At times they talk about some pretty off the wall things, but for the most part its pretty entertaining.
You can subscribe to there site for a few dollars a month, are listen free every night on the radio. Also all the pictures on there site can be viewed for free.
Let me know what y'all think !!

[tacticalguy]

Not meaning to start a theological debate here, but I thought it would be worthwhile to share the Biblical perspective on demons / evil spirits.

According to the Bible, they are very much real, and are totally evil. No such thing as a "good" demon. Demons are "fallen angels." They were the angels that joined Satan in his rebellion against God and were cast out of Heaven into the earth. They are incorporeal (i.e., they don't have a body) but are able to possess people and animals. In such cases of possession, they are able to induce numerous sicknesses and disabilities on thier host, such as blindness, deafness, insanity, etc. In at least one case in the Bible (Mark 4, I think) a man possessed with many demons had supernatural strength - BUT he was also insane and running around naked living in a graveyard! The purpose of possession seems to be the destruction of the host. The Bible speaks of demon-induced suicidal tendencies. (Mark 9:22) Of course, not all cases of attempted or successful suicide has to do with demons.

Most of what people think are encounters with "ghosts" are probably demons. It is most unwise to get mixed up in messing with demons. It will cost you big time in the end - maybe even your life.

Scary stuff, but it does not have to be. Much of the power that such evil spirits have over you is the power you give them. The more credit you give them, the more power you give over them over your life, as demonstrated in the lives of the people the member from Thailand mentioned.

A person who has been redeemed by Jesus Christ need not be afraid of demons at all. When Jesus defeated Satan through His Sacrificial Death on the Cross and His Resurrection, He also defeated all the minions of Satan, which are the demons. A true believer can stand confident in Jesus and is able to resist and overcome Satan and the Demons.

James 4:7 says "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."


The Bible has a lot more to say about evil spirits / demons, but that is a basic primer on the subject.

Yeah i was waiting for you to answer. i figured you would ebentually. i should of just asked you.....

[tacticalguy]

believe in them? at least half.

hate them? how can one hate something which can't even be sure to exist? can you even know the nature of such a thing?

Lets just say my friends and i might of had a few incidents. have you seen my title its right uder my username.

[chiangmaimav]

These are true stories for what they are worth, though I don't blame anyone who doesn't believe them as if I didn't see it myself I would not believe it either. My wife's brother died recently of cirrhosis from excessive drinking. he used to drink whiskey but last few years of his life drank only beer. Thai people believe you must appease the spirits of the dead and are always leaving them offerings of stuff they liked when they were alive.
Shortly after he died wife's family came to visit. I don't usually keep beer in the house as neither I nor wife drink any more (although I drank like a fish for many years.) On this occasion we had beer for visiting relatives. I opened beer and shortly thereafter the headlights on wife's car came on. Car was facing front window and we were all at table so lights shone inside where we were sitting and they were drinking beer. I went outside and car door was locked and lights went back off. Next incident, about a month later, I opened beer again, also for visiting relatives. Wife's cell phone was on table. My cell phone was on other table in dining room and I could see both phones laying on tables. My cell phone rang and I picked it up and checked number on readout and it was wife's cell phone. I looked right at it lying there and no one had touched it. Now I know there may be electronic and electrical phenomena to explain this but I find it very coincidental both these events occured with wife's family, her property and rare occasions where we opened beer.
On another occasion an American friend picked me up in his truck. We both work as police volunteers for tourist police and were in uniform. That night when friend got home his wife said several people saw him in truck in Bo Sang with other big white man in blue uniform. This could not have been me as I never went near Bo sang which is miles away, and people who saw friend in truck never went near Chiang Mai, which is where I rode in truck. Friend was confused by this and shortly thereafter checked his email and found his brother had died that day. His brother was a navy veteran who survived attack on Pearl Harbor. He was a big white guy and his navy uniform was exactly same color as police uniform.
I cannot explain any of these things but is it possible there are more likely to be actual ghosts who show themselves more often where people believe they exist? I don't know it is just a thought.

[pocomoonskyeyes]

Poco, I wasn't passing judgment one way or another. It was just an observation.
As you said, there are a lot of unexplained things that at this point we don't have the capacity to figure out.
Questioning them is something we as humans do.
Saying "I don't know" when we don't really know is something we as humans
should perhaps do more often.

Oh, I didn't think you were passing judgment. I just thought you may have been dismissing something out of hand,as you have no experience with it. I won't say that I believe in all things "that go bump in the night" either. I am saying that our current knowledge as vast as it is, has the potential for fallacy. Like OWVC said."DON'T BELIEVE ANYTHING YOU HEAR AND ONLY HALF OF WHAT YOU SEE". I think this should apply equally to "Ghost stories" AND "Scientific Theories" . In reality a theory is just a way of saying "I don't know for certain but I think it is like this...." "Theory" and "Guess" are exactly the same thing. But when a scientist says they have a "theory" it makes it sound like it is fact,when it is not. It may be an Educated Guess but a guess nonetheless. Science dismisses it out of hand though,simply because they cannot prove nor disprove it. (OK Minister of Science this is your chance)

I'll go back to my first argument. How can anyone believe in one thing without believing in the polar opposite? If there were no sad how would we know what Happy is? If there is good then there must be evil. Even if it is just Mother Theresa(or Insert another humanitarian) and the polar opposite Ted Bundy( or insert another psychopathic serial killer) Hot/cold, wet/dry. All I am saying is anyone who says there is no evil then logically must believe there is no good either. Or Vice Versa.

BENNESSE You are one of my friends. I did not want you to think I was attacking you - I'm not. If I was, I would never have started out with "My dear". That was my attempt at being gentle,nothing more.

[BENESSE]

BENNESSE You are one of my friends. I did not want you to think I was attacking you - I'm not. If I was, I would never have started out with "My dear". That was my attempt at being gentle,nothing more.

Poco, "I just have a feeling" your heart is always in the right place!
And when that's your starting point, I welcome anything you have to say.

My own thoughts about this subject essentially boil down to this:
There is science and there is faith. In my mind they peacefully co-exist and I don't feel the need to mix them up.
Science requires proof, and faith by it's very definition doesn't. Even though I am personally happy to leave it at that, I understand those who have the need to pursue it further.

As someone famous once said (forgot who)..."The heart has it's reasons that reason will never understand"

[pocomoonskyeyes]

I like that saying. It really is right on Target with this topic. Life and all it's mysteries.

[Pict]

Science requires proof, and faith by it's very definition doesn't. Even though I am personally happy to leave it at that, I understand those who have the need to pursue it further.

As someone famous once said (forgot who)..."The heart has it's reasons that reason will never understand"

I would say that most of what we believe we believe by faith. Most of what we believe science has taught us we accept by faith. Unless you personally performed the scientific method you are merely trusting in the person that did, attributing credibility to him as an act of faith. In essence you are acting upon information that was revealed to you by another that you trust.

I have no problem placing scripture in that category, truth revealed to me by another that I trust.

Mac

"He that will believe only what he can comprehend must have a very long head or a very short creed." Charles Colton Cobb

[tsitenha]

I have had one haunting around outside of my house for quite a few years.
Even my dog reacts to its presence, my wife would like to "see it", I told her that she would wish that she hadn't if she did. Not any way "fun" to be around.

[BENESSE]

I would say that most of what we believe we believe by faith. Most of what we believe science has taught us we accept by faith.

Then paint me in the color of minority.
But we can all still play nice together and that's what counts, no?

[BENESSE]

Unless you personally performed the scientific method you are merely trusting in the person that did, attributing credibility to him as an act of faith. In essence you are acting upon information that was revealed to you by another that you trust.

Just got through telling the bank to accept on faith that i sent in the mortgage payment this month.
They aren't buying it.
Now what do I do?

[crashdive123]

BENESSE - don't feel bad. It seems that demons don't believe anybody - no faith at all I tell ya.

[Pict]

Just got through telling the bank to accept on faith that i sent in the mortgage payment this month.
They aren't buying it.
Now what do I do?

Do you develop your own medications or just take the ones your doctor recommends? On that thought does he develop medications or just prescribe the ones the pharmaceutical company recommends and have been passed by the FDA? If you keep tracking the medication back you eventually get to actual science but there's a whole lot of faith going on from that point down.

I have been inoculated for yellow fever, by faith. They said I needed it, told me where to find it, they injected something into my arm that I could in no way verify by science, I just had to trust them.

You act on faith every day.

Mac

[BENESSE]

You act on faith every day.
Mac

Not nearly as much as you do.
But then, practicing the calling you've chosen, I wouldn't expect anything less.
My wiring is just different, that's all.
Some dogs herd sheep, chase rats, pull sleds, sniff out bombs or rescue people.
Is one breed better than the other? Depends what you need them for.

There's room for every kind of dog and room for every personal belief as long as it's not hurting anyone.

[Tootsiepop254]

Coast to Coast - that's the one that Art Bell used to be on, right? He was fun! Haven't heard that since I came down from the hills.
I beleive. Maybe not in alien abductions (its always my fellow rednecks that get abducted - why not the president?), but I believe in the unseen, and have experiencedsome things that have solidified my belief.

[chiangmaimav]

Ther have been academic studies in which a group of people prayed for a group of sick people. These people were unaware that anyone wa praying for them yet had a much higher recovery rate than control groups. There are also many similarities between Buddhist philosophy and quantum physics. Science and religion do not necessarity have to conflict is what I am trying to say.

[BENESSE]

Science and religion do not necessarity have to conflict is what I am trying to say.

They can have a symbiotic relationship as long as there are open minds on each end.

[Pict]

They can have a symbiotic relationship as long as there are open minds on each end.

I would agree with that. Often when people disagree about "science and religion" they are actually disagreeing about philosophical materialism, the presupposition that the only things that exist are matter and energy.

The other fallacy is that science is THE only way to establish truth. Science tends to establish working models until better science comes along.

Historical/legal truth is established by the preponderance of evidence that points to a reasonable conclusion. The scientific method may establish points of fact but they only establish historical truth when placed in context and submitted to interpretation.

My only dog in this race is to make the point that we accept most of what we know based on the conclusions and interpretations of scientists and historians, and that since most of us are neither (and those who are are limited in the scope of their personal experience), most of what we "know" we accept based upon the credibility of others.

Our experience is finite and it is possible that those things we do not accept lie outside our sphere of knowledge. In essence one would have to state categorically "I disbelieve all things I am ignorant of". That is irrational given the human condition.

I agree, keep an open mind, even if it challenges your base presuppositions.

Mac

[finallyME]

There's room for every kind of dog and room for every personal belief as long as it's not hurting anyone.

There is a lot of wisdom here. But, that is a political subject, so....

keep an open mind, even if it challenges your base presuppositions.

REAL truth is unchanging and withstands challenges. The trick is finding it. Only with an open mind will you be able to. Nice statement Pict.